The World Series Of Poker Is Planning A Tournament With A $1 Million Buy In

The World Series of Poker is planning to hold a three-day Texas Hold 'em tournament in July, 2012. "The Big One for One Drop" calls for a $1 million buy in, which will eclipse the previous record for a buy in at a live poker tournament. The current record is $250,000.

A formal announcement of the tournament is expected today.

The event will be a charitable partnership with One Drop, a Canadian organization dedicated to supplying water to third world countries. Fifteen high rollers have reportedly already committed to the event, including Treasure Island casino owner Phil Ruffin and star poker players Johnny Chan and Tom Dwan.

An approximate 11% of the buy in will go directly towards One Drop. The WSOP is forgoing its 10% tournament fee and giving that money to charity.

The winner of The Big One for One Drop will receive a platinum bracelet, and the stats of the tournament will count towards series records as they normally would.

This is one of the nicer poker related stories to come out in recent months. The gambling world is still reeling from the fallout of the far-reaching poker website shutdown. On top of that, legend Phil Ivey announced yesterday that he is not participating in this year's World Series tournament because of Full Tilt Poker's failing to payback several players who lost necessary bankroll money during the seizure. Ivey is suing Full Tilt, which is currently his sponsor.